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7.01.2009

#47. Girl of the Limberlost

"As for managing a social career for him, he never mentioned that he desired such a thing. What he asked of me was that I should be his wife. I understood that to mean that he desired me to keep him a clean house, serve him digestible food, mother his children, and give him loving sympathy and tenderness."

"Shameless!"

"To which of us do you intend that adjective to apply? I never was less ashamed in all my life."

Author: Gene Stratton Porter

Synopsis: Elnora Comstock's mother has never forgiven her for being born at the wrong time: when Katharine needed to save the life of Elnora's father. Unwanted but unafraid to pursue a better life, Elnora works to fund her way through high school and discovers a gift inherited from her father. Her work as a naturalist captures the attention of fever-weakened Philip Ammon, a city boy interested in moths and engaged to a beautiful socialite. All of Elnora's courage and wisdom are required to unravel the tangle of hearts that follows.

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Philip Ammon has always annoyed me--is there really anything romantic about getting brain-fever just because you can't find your girl? He seems pushy and thoughtless and a little wimpy to me, and I'll title him "Most Annoying Hero in an Otherwise Good Book."

Elnora Comstock needs no disclaimer before her character. Her naturalist studies are fascinating, her human love and anger and forgiveness endearing, and if she wants Philip, he is at least sympathetic enough to make the reader feel she ought to have him. The side stories of Kate Comstock, Wesley and Margaret and Billy, Edith Carr and Hart Henderson also make for an enjoyable read.

I also just really, really love that quote. Put that with her life and character, and Elnora is my kind of feminist. :)

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